tonight, students talking about the moment they were thrown from their seats when three school buses collided.

>> thunder rumbles across the area as showers and storms move through. >> the funeral procession for a local soldier that could cause traffic tie-ups in maryland and virginia tomorrow morning. >> breaking news -- the florida teenager gunned down by a neighborhood watch volunteer. tonight the justice department announced it opened an investigation into the shooting. saying it will conduct a thorough and independent review of the evidence. the justice department community relation service will send a team to florida to meet with civil rights leaders community leaders and local police to ease tension. earlier today the white house extended its thoughts and prayers to the young man's family and students at a local university are doing what they can to help. the efforts at howard university to get justice. >> we wanted to offer our condolences to the family and our offer of assistance. >> howard university law school

dean is offering legal help to martin's family. >> we can help with investigation, and more importantly looking at the law. >> 17-year-old martin was walking through a community near orlando. george zimmerman was concerned about recent burglaries and called 911. >> this guy looks luke he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. he's got his hand in his waistband and he is a black male. >> are you following him? >> yes. >> okay we, don't need you to do that. >> what happened next was captured by 911 calls by neighbors. >> i don't know what's going on. they're sending. >> so you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> what is your -- >> there's gunshots. >> martin was only carrying a bag of candy and a can of iced tea. howard university students are outraged. >> very heartwrenching. >> the naacp chapter, law school

students and organizations million it to plan a protest in sanford next week. demanding police arrest zimmerman for murder. police declined. after he claimed self defense. >> more and more people become informed, more becoming enraged and -- >> social media is buzzing. martin's name gets a new entry on twitter every 20 seconds. follow the story on nbcwashington.com. in northwest d.c., news 4. one brother arrested. another is in a hospital tonight. after the two of them got into a fight that escalated into gunfire. it happened about 9:00 tonight. in the 900 block in capital heights. that's down the block from walker mill middle school. police say the brothers were arguing when one pulled a gun and shot the other one. they say the man who was shot his injuries are life threatening. a middle school student faces charges for bringing a gun to school in charles county. the boy arrested after a tip

this morning led to a search of his locker. in a letter to parents, mattawoman middle school officials say the student brought the gun and planned to sell it after school. >> students hurt in a chain reaction crash between three school buss in prince georges county that sent dozens of students to the hospital this afternoon. jackie benson was at the hospital as the parents arrived. >> reporter: there was two buses hit. one bus was pretty strong. we got knocked into the bushes. >> reporter: 16-year-old brandy jackson deskrucribes what happe as her school bus left the high school in upper marlboro. >> i was sitting side waysn't got thrown and hit my head on the metal window. that hurt. >> reporter: although the collision happened at low speeds the impact of the large vehicles jolted students severely. about three dozen were taken to local hospitals. many aboard a bus used for mass casualty incidents. loaned by anne arundel county.

the triage area spilled out of prince george's hospital center. most of the injuries were minor and in the middle of the excitement, most of students manage to call mom. >> it was kind of harrowing, getting a text from my son telling me, that he has been in an accident. that's all i got. >> he sent me a text. told me he was going to be late coming home from school. i'm look why are you going to be late? he says because our bus was an in accident. >> my daughter called me on her cell phone while i was at work and said that she was in a, in a bus accident. right down the street from the school. i was look what? >> reporter: the accident itself is under investigation. by prince george's county police. reporting from prince georges hospital center jackie benson, news 4. outside tonight, a cup showers, rum fwul and a rumble thunder. is it going to be wet outside tomorrow? >> some locations to night saw heavy rainfall back towards frederick county, virginia, winchester upwards of an inch of

rain and very strong winds. that same storm made its way through the county and northern neck. right now watching fred rick. fairly heavy rain in this area. did have lightning and thunder. into portions of washington county. now beginning to weaken, but heavier downpours around receipt under. more shower activity, prince georges county, anne arundel border. thank you. >> it is possible that -- that the warm weather led the cherry blossoms downtown to bloom early. but tomorrow, the cherry blossom festival will kick off. 1 million people are expected to come to see the trees this year. this marks the 100th anniversary of japan's gift of cherry trees to washington. peak bloom period came a week earlier this year than first predicted. >> i was planning on coming next week i would be upset because they bloomed early.

>> once they start blooming they generally are around for ten days. so even though it is pack you can come back in a few days and see blossoms. >> this year's centennial festival will last five weeks instead of the usual two weeks. a warning for commute in the morning. a funeral procession for a fallen soldier could affect your ride to work. main your robert marchante died last month in kabul, shot in the back of the head during an attack on the afghan interior ministry after the accidental burning of korans. the procession will start at 5:00 a.m., parkville north of baltimore travel down 95 to the outer loop of the beltway. from there, the procession will take the george washington parkway to arlington national cemetery. the lawyer for the u.s. soldier who is accused of a shooting rampage in afghanistan, said that that man, robert bales doesn't remember what happened. tonight we are also hearing for the first time from bale's wife.

angie? >> jim, army staff sergeant bales is accused of killing 16 afghan civilians including nine children. he met face to face with his defense team to day for the first time. bales' lawyer says his client remembers little of the shooting. bales is in solitary confinement in fort levin worth, kansas. he joined the army after 9/11 after quitting his job as a stock proeker. prior to afghanistan, bales served three tours in iraq where his lawyer says he was hurt twice. friends and neighbors say reports of what happened in afghanistan don't sound like anything the man, doesn't sound anything like the man they know. >> he was one of my best guys ipt nevi never had any ush use with him. give him any job. didn't matter what it was. >> this is not our bobby. they swear this is a major mistake you. got the wrong name. >> bales' wife release aid staple this evening. it reads in part.

our family has little information beyond what we read and see in the media. what has been reported is completely out of character of the man i know and admire. please respect me when i say i cannot shed any light on what happened that night, so please do not ask. i too want to know what happened. i want to know how this could be. bales could be charged by the end of the week. his lawyer will likely use post-traumatic stress disorder as part of the defense. he hopes the focal point will be the length of tours of duty bales did in iraq. >> angie, thank you. new details in the case of a fairfax county man accused of posing an immigration lawyer and bilking clients out of thousands of dollars. louis ramires spoke with news 4 to deny the allegations. police arrested ramires in january accused of misleading clients and offering legal service for detained immigrants for fees up to $8,000. this evening, ramires told us he is a certified para legal and he

never present himself as an attorney. he says he has contracts signed by his clients to prove it. but the former president of virginia's hispanic bar association says ramires intentionally misled immigrants. >> unfortunately for a lot of people, their loved ones were deported as a result of hum not doing anything. >> they signed a contract, it is more than clear i am not an attorney in the contract. they hire a paralegal for $12 an hour. i work for the definite amount of money. if you pay me and agree under the contract to pay me. that's the way it is. >> charged with five counts of obtaining money under false pretenses. he has a court date in may. ending a marriage is proving a lot more difficult to starting one for same sex couple in maryland. jessica port and virginia cowen, married in california in 2008. after a couple years the women wanted to divorce they want to court in prince george's county. but a judge found their vows in

california were not valid in maryland. since the state did not recognize their marriage, it could not grant their divorce. >> we aren't looking to -- to make any waves. we were a couple looking to get divorced and still looking to do that. we're looking to have our rights granted. >> this case will be argued before the mare atlanta court off peels of appeals in april and could set a precedent for future cases. heating up in a courtroom, where roger clemens, faces a perjury trial in a month. prosecutors asked a judge to bar references to last year's case ending in a mistrial. clemmons is accused of lying to congress whether he used performance enhancing drugs. jury selection set to begin on april 16. presidential hopeful mitt romney come to maryland. republican candidate for president scheduled to campaign in maryland wednesday. at a townhall at 4:00 p.m., the hometown of former governor

robert erhlich. the rest of his schedule not yet announced. maryland's primary schedule ford april 3. for now, romney is focused on an even bigger prize. making his case to voters in illinois. where he is involved in a what's becoming a nasty race with rick santorum. santorum mocked romney for the health care bill that he passed as governor of massachusetts. romney retorted by calling santorum an economic lightweight. illinois will hold its primary tomorrow. it is the sixth biggest contest of the year, and is seen as yet another test of whether romney can maintain his status as a front-runner. >> still ahead, apple comes to washington to argue about $60 billion offshore. >> also, what friends and colleagues say led to the apparent breakdown of an invisible children filmmaker, jason russell. >> skinny mirrors can make most of us look better and how it is used to make houses sell faster. used [ male announcer ]l faster. this was how my day began.

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trains are about a year away on the silver line. taggers are already making their mark. the airport authority says workers found a significant amount of graffiti spray painted on a new metro platform in reston. crews in the process of removing it. no word on how much it is going to cost. >> there are reports tonight that jason russell could be

released from a hospital soon after an apparent breakdown. footage from tmz shows a man reported to be the invisible children co-founder ranting in the nude on a san diego street corner. police detained him and took him for a mental evaluation. he is behind the kony 2012 video that calls for the capture of joseph kony with 80 million views in two weeks. friends say the pressure got to res el. in a statement his wife said russell took criticism of the film as personal attacks. it reads in part he did some irrational things brought on by exhaustion and dehdehydration. on our end the focus remains on his health and protection our family. >> $60 billion how much apple threatened to keep offshore today if congress doesn't modify the way big companies are taxed. currently money made overseas is taxed at 35% when it is brought back into the u.s. apple wants a tax holiday along

with cisco, microsoft and google. the newspaper reports supporters of a tax holiday estimate $1 trillion could be injected into the nation's economy. >> we have heard about skinny mirrors used in clothing stores to help boost sales. well now the tactic is apparently being used in the housing market. local real estate agent, pat kennedy says she noticed more mirrors in houses on the market and the kind of mirrors that make people look thinner. kennedy says it can make the perspective buyers feel good about themselves and therefore good about the house. >> i think we are going to see more of it the i do. and -- any agent, you know when you are listing a house, marketing it, it has to be competitive. i think that agents this might be just one more thing. >> mirrors are just one aspect of the staging process. used to sell homes. kennedy says agents also rent entire rooms of new and trendy furniture to make houses look more appealing.

>> reports of some what might be called out of this world activity. at the pool and clubhouse grounds in arlington. the facility is closed for construction. but according to a website called arlnow, some workers say they have been seeing a ghost. and believe it is the ghost of margaret fabre, a descentant of the man who built the clubhouse and girl who died as a teenager. she is reportedly friendly. the clubhouse is expected to reopen this spring. >> just wants them to hurry and open up the pool. so nice out there? what are they waiting for, right? >> i drove by a pool. couldn't believe it. there were people out there. not in the pool. but getting it ready. this is what we have been talking about. temperatures in the 70s. close to 80 degrees across the area. there is no end in sight. or is there? yes, there is. i will show you that in a second. first off, a spectacular afternoon. all across our area. this evening we did see showers and even a couple thunderstorms.

and some strong thunderstorms at that. that came through parts of the region earlier this evening. 76 degrees, height temperature today. low this morning. 56 degrees. that is almost 20 degrees warmer than the average low temperature. we should still be in the 30s this toime of year. haven't seen anything like that. i think we will see quite a few more as we make our way through the week. 75, winchester today. 82, west virginia. 79, charlottesville. 78, fredericksburg. annapolis, 71 degrees. a lot of sunshine out there. we also saw the clouds roll in later in the afternoon. right now. still 66 at this time. wind out of south at 6 miles an hour. so you know we're in for a mild night. a very mild morning tomorrow morning. current temperatures. 61, frederick. 64, culpeper. fredericksberg at 65 degrees a cross receipt underthe knthe re.

notice the rain. notice first the spin in the atmosphere. a couple around. areas of low pressure have the potential to produce storms. what we are seeing out there. one storm through winchester, through fred rick county, virginia. very strong storm. hail, 30, 40,50 mile an hour wind with trees down. watch where the storm went. right on down to the south. fredericksburg and out of the region. more showers developing and moving through the region right now. near the frederick county. under the gun. showers are concerned. most on the light side. most should stay light and move to the east. now moving into parts of montgomery county, rockville, more out towards anne arundel county. not done just yet. more tonight. more during the day tomorrow. only a 30% chance. it will not be a washout tomorrow. so don't worry about that. tomorrow morning, watch out for a few of the showers.

49-56 degrees. good idea to carry that small umbrella with you just in case, we are going to see a few showers. mace maybe an isolated shower. 70, 75 degrees. next couple days. 75 wednesday. and 80 on friday. and then there is the pattern change. this weekend a lot of people have plans. this weekend could be a very wet weekend. we have to wait and see about that. not just a little. very. >> all right. we'll stay tuned. >> sports coming up next. want to not what happens when a fight breaks off in

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good hockey stuff, huh? >> guys hanging on by a thread in the playoff spot. it went from blowout to nail biter. the capitals weathered the red wings storm and came out of detroit with two very important points to stay firmly entrenched in the eighth playoff spot in the east. let's go to motown. capitals needed this guy to heat up, alex ovechkin, four goals this month. capitals, johannsen, looking for who else? ove? good pass. top shelf. take a look. perfectly placed sloeapper. capitals up 2-0 on another power play. ovechkin. shoots once, stays with it. shoots again. gets to the go. his 32nd goal of the season. that matches his goal total from all of last season. there are nine games to go. capitals hang on to win, 5-3. there would be no upset in college park tonight. even with the star players

struggling. brenda friesz and her terps are moving on to the sweet 16 in the women's ncaa basketball tournament. friesz against jeff walsh, coach of louisville. terps down one. good ball movement. lauren mincy, top of the key. got it. 14 of her game high 24 in the first half. terps up two. and going for the home run. uh-oh, tianna hawkins turns it over. and last chance for louisville now. down by three. the shot from asia taylor. block. maryland ends the game on a 13-4 run. they win it 72-68, the terps moving on to the sweet 16. coach friesz celebrating with her family and enjoying the ride. >> just a ton of fun. we wanted to, embrace the moment, you know, obviously, a game that, that -- was so competitive from both ends. both teams made the plays.

players making plays. and we're just thrilled to be able to advance and move to the sweet 16. >> peyton's place not in denver. peyton manning chose the broncos over 49ers and titans. contract negotiations under way. once the deal become owes official, the broncos will try to trade tim tebow, only the most popular player last season. landry played his last game with the redskins. signing a one year $4 million contract with the jets. landry wanted to stay in washington. redskins were ready to move on after he missed 15 games over two years. yeah, we'll miss that with an achilles injury. all right, finally back to hockey. devils/rangers, madison square garden. off the opening face-off. not one. not two. but three simultaneous fights. and just look at this. it's nuts. craziness out there on the ice. total of 40 penalty minutes handed out between the two

teams. ryan carter gets a little bloody have? to clean the blood up. >> that's disgusting. >> hope you are not eating everybody is in bed. ugly scene. they don't like each other. that's why it happened. >> apparently not. >> got to throw them down every >> got [ male announcer ] every for the dreamers...

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a treatment is giving heroic dog is a new lease on life. red is a recovery dog and helped

crews at the pentagon, hurricane katrina and disasters. at 12 years old the black lab is suffering from arthritis tucht day she underwent a stem cell therapy, doctors hope it will ease her pain so she can run and play again. two other 9/11 rescue dogs that have had treatment are back to their normal activities. >> hang in there, red. that's it for now. "tonight show" is next. >> see you tomorrow. good night.

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